Chapter 9: Shule

  As she gazed at Li Changguo's back, the woman bit her lip with a row of clear teeth marks on her mouth. Just then, Li Changguo turned around and waved his hand at her, as if to say "don't be infatuated with me", and she almost fell off the horse.

  "Miss, look quickly! There, there! It's our people taking prisoners. Wow! So many prisoners, they're from the Little Brut tribe! And there are also Tubo people!" The maid's voice was like a string of firecrackers, very loud and ear-splitting.

  The woman took a glance and saw a long procession moving along the mountain path, with more than 200 captives tied together in a long line. And the ones escorting these captives were only twenty Tang soldiers, including that annoying young man who made her angry.

  "He's a man of the military residence! Hmph! Daring to provoke me, he'll be the one who suffers!" The woman pulled on the reins and galloped away.

  Li Changguo and others escorted the captives to come, and they heard the sound of dogs barking from afar. Li Changguo followed the sound and found that the woman had shot and killed a fox, but she was not satisfied with it. He wanted to shoot her, but she was too proud and difficult to accept, which led to what happened later. This matter was just a small thing for Li Changguo, and he didn't take it to heart after it passed.

  We have already passed Congling, and Suole is not far away. After heading north for about half a time, we saw a heroic city in the distance, which was Suole, one of the four towns of Anxi.

  The Tang Dynasty had four strategic strongholds in the Western Regions, namely Shule, Kucha, Yutian and Pishan, collectively known as the "Anxi Four Garrisons", each with extremely important strategic value.

  In these four towns, Kucha is the middle, where Anxi Duhu Fu is located, is the hub. Shule City is the westernmost, a strategic fulcrum for the Tang Dynasty and the Arabs to compete for control of Central Asia. Yu Tian mainly connects Hexi Corridor.

  Shule was a strategic stronghold for the Tang Dynasty to control Congling and prevent Tubo from invading the Western Regions. After a hundred years of operation, although it is in a remote and barren land in the Western Regions, the Tang Dynasty still relied on its strong national strength to build Shule into a majestic city, which is not inferior to the cities in the interior.

  The city is over ten miles in circumference, with high walls and thick defenses, making it easy to defend but difficult to attack. It is an impregnable military stronghold where the Tang Dynasty stationed a large garrison.

  "What a magnificent city! Fully displaying the grandeur of the Tang Dynasty!"

  Li Changguo couldn't help but praise him.

  "We've arrived at Suole!" Kande was overjoyed, laughing and saying: "We won such a big victory, we'll definitely be heavily rewarded!"

  "Haha!" This was inevitable. A burst of laughter erupted from the crowd of soldiers, their eyes shining with eager light, as if they couldn't wait to receive military merit at once.

  Military merit is the best recognition of one's own bravery, who wouldn't be happy about it?

  At the gate of Shule City, a team of Tang soldiers were on guard. As soon as they saw Li Changguo and his men approaching, they ran over to block them: "Halt! Who are you? Ah! Little Bolu people! Haha! And Tubo people! Where did you catch them?"

  For the Tang army in Shule, the Lesser Bolü and the Tubo people could be distinguished at a glance.

  "We are the garrison of Congling, and we have fought a battle with the Xiao Bolu people, capturing these prisoners. There aren't many, only 247! And among them is a chiliarch!" Kangde's head was held high, his chest puffed out as he spoke triumphantly.

  This was the most brilliant battle he had ever fought in his life, and he felt extremely proud, with eyes shining brightly like the fierce sun in the sky.

  "What are you talking about? As far as I know, there aren't many soldiers stationed at the Onion Ridge outpost, only a few dozen. How could you have captured so many prisoners? Listen to my advice and don't exaggerate military achievements!" The gatekeeper, Tang Jun, didn't believe him at all, his tone thick with skepticism.

  "You don't believe it!" Kant was furious, his eyes rolled up, extremely angry, as if someone had borrowed money from him and hadn't paid back: "I'll report to the Governor's Office right now, whether it's false military information or not, no need for you to worry about it!"

  "Brother, I'm just reminding you kindly, what kind of bad temper do you have?" Gatekeeper Tang Jun was left with nothing to say, feeling very embarrassed and somewhat displeased. He then let Li Changguo and the others enter the city.

  The Tang Dynasty had a military government in Shule, which was used to handle military affairs. The military government was located in the west of the city, and Li Changguo and his men entered the city and rushed straight to the west, soon arriving at the military government.

  Kang De stepped forward, explaining the situation to the guarding Tang army, and again brought a round of questioning glances from these Tang soldiers. Fortunately, the Tang soldiers here were still relatively well-behaved and did not speak out directly.

  In the military headquarters, a man in his thirties, tall and majestic, with an air of sharpness, one glance would reveal that he was a shrewd person.

  His name is Duan Xiushi, Anxi General. He once started the famous Battle of Talas with Gao Xianzhi and Li Shigu in Tianbao 10 years.

  Duan Xiushi was busy with military affairs, being very focused. Just then, a personal guard came in and reported to him: "Reporting to the General, Huichang Kangde from Congling Garrison requests an audience."

  "Kangde?" Duan Xiushi's thick black eyebrows furrowed, his demeanor slightly stern, as he asked: "What is he doing here? He is extremely important, the eyes of Suole, has something unusual happened with Xiao Bolu?"

  "Don't be too proud!" The Imperial Guard praised and then reported: "The Xiaobo Army had a strange movement, but they were defeated by us, and more than 200 prisoners were captured and brought to the military headquarters to report their merits."

  "Reporting merits?" Duan Xiushi was very surprised: "He, with only fifty men, captured more than two hundred prisoners? Is this possible? Is he exaggerating military achievements? Hmph!"

  This is a real military achievement, but it's too hard to believe. It's not that Duan Xiushi wasn't clever enough, on the contrary, he was a very clever person, and it's also hard to believe that with just over 50 people, they captured more than 200 prisoners.

  Just as a captive, he caught more than 200, so how many of his opponents were there? At least three or four hundred should be there, right? Can Kant's troops defeat the 300-400 small Prussian army?

  Although the military strength of the small Boer army was not strong and was not on the same level as that of the Tang army, the problem was that ants could bite an elephant to death. The advantage of the Boer army's forces was too great, and they were exhausted by the fifty garrison troops.

  Duan Xiushi stood up and quickly walked out of the military government office, only to see a long string of small Bo people in front of the military government office, as well as a few Tibetans, all with their heads bowed and faces full of horror.

  With a glance, Duan Xiushi recognized that these were indeed the small troops of Bo and the Tibetan army. He couldn't help but be stunned, muttering to himself: "Could it be that Kang De can really capture so many prisoners with just fifty men?"

  Kang De measured Duan Xiu Shi, extremely delighted, stepped forward and saluted: "I've seen the other General."

  "Hmm!" Duan Xiujin raised an eyebrow, like a sharp sword out of its scabbard, extremely intimidating. He stared at Kangde with a very severe tone and said: "Kangde, you know the military law. If you lie to the army, I will deal with you according to the military law!"

  "Good heavens!" Kant felt he was being wronged without cause, and cried out to the Heaven-bending General: "Don't be so stubborn, sir! How can you expect us to prove that we caught them? Won't you ask these prisoners?"

  "I don't disbelieve, I just dare not believe!" Duan Xiushi's tone showed no signs of relaxation, still as stern as before: "Have you joined forces with the nearby garrison?"

  Kant did not ask for help from Schüler, only by uniting with the nearby garrison was it possible to capture so many prisoners, this statement is highly credible.

  "I didn't! Absolutely not!" Kant's voice was very loud, and he looked as wronged as a young daughter-in-law who had been abused by her mother-in-law. He stamped his big feet on the ground several times.

  Li Changguo knew that with Kang De's eloquence, it would be difficult to clarify the situation in a short time, and he was about to take over the conversation. Just then, a sudden sound of horseshoes echoed out, and soon arrived at the military headquarters.

  "Arrived at the deputy capital!"

  A loud voice came from far away.

  "Gao Xianzhi?" Li Changguo's eyes sparkled with a radiant glow, his pair of eyes shining brightly like the scorching sun in the ninth heaven.